Bleak future for suckler farmers?
Local farmers are leaving the sector
By Peter Gleeson
A FATHER and son who operate a suckler farm close to Nenagh say thousands of suckler farmers like them right across the country may be forced to quit the way they farm unless the Government provides them with better incentives.
Tim Young and his son David (45) together own a suckler herd of 40 Charolais and Limousin suckler cows on a holding on the foothills of the Silvermine Mountains in Ballinahinch.
Tim and David feel national policy is primarly geared to grow the dairy sector but not enough is being to to aid suckler farmers like them whose role, they say, is crucial to breed the stock necessary to maintain a top quality national herd.
“Our aim is to breed livestock to produce quality. We have improved our enterprise in so many ways over the years with a lot of investment to achieve this, but now our way of living is being threatened and that is not good for the future quality of the national herd,” says David.
FARMERS LEAVING
Tim says that lack of incentives for farmers like him and David is forcing those in suckling out of the sector. “I know three to four people in this area who have got out of suckler farming in the last month or so,” Tim reveals. “They are selling off their cows because they just don’t find what they do profitable anymore.
“Suckler farmers will not be there at all in years to come unless something is done.”
David says there are some positives too, with beef prices at present being “very good”, but in the longer run he feels his and his father’s enterprise is in jeopardy due to rising costs on inputs such as fertiliser and a lack of ambition by the Government to promote the suckler sector.
“I feel national policy is putting a cap on suckler farmers. We’re not looking for sympathy or anything like that, but we feel we are not being allowed to expand our enterprises as suckler farmers,” says David.
These fears for the future of the suckler sector were underlined recently by the outgoing Teagasc Director Gerry Boyle who predicted a “potential shift” to dairy-beef production among suckler farmers.
Mr Boyle’s remakrs didn’t go down well with the IFA whose Livestock Chairman Brendan Golden criticised the view expressed.
“It's appalling that a senior industry figure would show such disregard for a farming sector that is unique in the scale of its significance in every county,” said Mr Golden.
He added: “100,000 farmers are in beef production. To dismiss them in such a cavalier fashion shows very poor judgement. What farmers expect to hear from Teagasc is some support for our suckler herd, which contributes to beef exports of €2 billion.”
Mr Golden said these export markets that value the quality beef Ireland produces would only continue if we implement policies to bring farmers in the sector “towards viability”.
Says David Young: “It is hard for suckler farmers to earn a living when you see costs like the price of fertilizer going through the roof. At the end of the day I don’t think Government policy is geared towards supporting suckler farmers like us.”
David predicted that the quality of the national cattle herd will decline if suckler farmers are not better supported. “There are signs that the quality of the herd is declining even now an it is reflected in poor quality stock offered by marts.”
Tim adds: “Farmers getting out have said to me that suckling is not profitable any more, that milking cows is the way to go, but not everyone has the land to get into dairying.
“If we get rid of the suckler farmer it will be like closing the Thurles Sugar Factory in the 1980s – you will just never get them back, or it will be very hard to get them back.”
David feels one of the problems in farming at present is that young farmers are being overly encouraged to get into large dairying enterprises and take on the huge investment, stress and extremely hard work which that involves while overlooking other sectors of farming such as suckling.
“God forbid if the market fell out of dairying in the morning. I’m not criticising dairy farmers or anything, but this policy of putting all our eggs in one basket is very risky. In anything you do diversity is the best policy to pursue.”
other options
As it is David has a part time job to supplement his income from the farm and is in the third year of a business studies course in a third level institution with a view to enhancing future job prospects if the bottom completely falls out of suckling.
“My joy is in farming beef cattle,” he says, but admits to putting a safety net under him in case the suckler sector declines to a level where it is completely unviable.
Tim and David are calling on all five TDs in Tipperary to raise the plight of suckler farmers in the Dáil and call for greater supports to save and grow the sector.